Stumbling along the Middle Path, one day at a time.

What Would You Trade?

Once we give up the sightseeing visits and begin to get serious about our recovery, it doesn’t take long to begin experiencing the benefits. As one fellowship puts it, “We will know a new freedom and a new happiness.”

However, it’s easy to romanticize our active addiction when we’re still new, and conveniently forget the reality. Shrinks call that euphoric recall. It has killed a lot of addicts. One of the best defenses against relapse is remembering what it was like, and concentrating on how much better things are now.

We can make a list of the good things we have discovered on one side of a page, and then opposite each of them we can list the things in our addiction that we would be willing to trade for. I’m guessing that the right-hand column will be pretty short. It certainly is for me!

I’ve been “sober” for over 25 years, but it wasn’t until I got some outside help that I began to get a handle on why I’d become a dry drunk. We all have our paths, but my theory is to follow the one that seems to be the most traveled.

Whenever I start to romanticize, I think about what mornings used to feel like during addiction. Waking up NEVER feels good when you are addicted to a substance, regardless of which chemical it is. I’d instantly have to find my pills. And then I’d have to wait 30 minutes for them to kick in before I could even THINK about getting out of bed.

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